Single shot pistol guys chime in…

[canny]

Getting my feet wet in the SSP game. Put together a TC Encore with 15” 7mm-08 barrel. Had an older 3x20 Tasco handgun scope that I’m going to use for now. My plan is to use Hodgdons reduced recoil formula to load some 120g Nosler BTs and 139g Hornady Sp over H4895 to get a feel for it.

Any tips, tricks, advice that you care to share




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[Drycreek3189]

Just that you picked an excellent caliber IMO. I wouldn’t worry too much about reduced recoil loads unless a kid is gonna shoot it. Recoil will be mitigated somewhat with the rubber grips as well as the weight of the scoped pistol. My son shot my .260 Rem Encore when he was 12/14 years old…..a lot ! The 7/08 won’t be much more. Good luck !

[Mike D]

Agreed. Even though you picked the wrong cartridge IMO [emoji51]

I shoot full power loads in my 260 and the recoil is surprisingly mild.




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[Texas Grown]

Nice choice to start with.


I'm not sure about the Encores. But I'm sure they are somewhat similar to the Contenders, except for working pressures. If this is a brand-new gun, look into getting a trigger job done by someone who specializes in TC, if you don't feel qualified to do it your self. There is a big difference in a nice trigger, and the factory nice triggers, just like rifles. There is a school of thought in the Contender line that lock-up can make a slight difference in accuracy. I've seen a few barrels and frames in certain loadings where someone took this to the extreme and mated the pair just to get that lil bit more out of it.

[BLACKFINTURKEY]

Need to learn how to properly headspace the case and be sure you set your die up perfectly.i suggest reading on Mike bellms website a google search for bellemTC should find it.

You will learn how fast how much a little movement affects your POI much different than a rifle. I suggest getting it threaded and putting a can o. It if you have one.

[canny]

Agreed. Even though you picked the wrong cartridge IMO [emoji51]

I shoot full power loads in my 260 and the recoil is surprisingly mild.




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The 260 is a fine round but I am set up for 7mm plus already have a ton of 7-08 brass and dies.

Just that you picked an excellent caliber IMO. I wouldn’t worry too much about reduced recoil loads unless a kid is gonna shoot it. Recoil will be mitigated somewhat with the rubber grips as well as the weight of the scoped pistol. My son shot my .260 Rem Encore when he was 12/14 years old…..a lot ! The 7/08 won’t be much more. Good luck !

Awesome!

Need to learn how to properly headspace the case and be sure you set your die up perfectly.i suggest reading on Mike bellms website a google search for bellemTC should find it.

You will learn how fast how much a little movement affects your POI much different than a rifle. I suggest getting it threaded and putting a can o. It if you have one.

I’ll check them out. Yes I have a can and considering threading it for the muzzle device.


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[bmac]

44 Mag is a fun one. Only thing I would say is get a solid grip and hang on. Don’t let it jump and smack your deer blind window.

[MUZZYSLINGR]

My buddy uses 7-08 a lot. He also uses the same load for both his rifle,a TC Prohunter and his pistol, a Savage Stryker.

Recoil is not that bad.


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[cwill]

I shoot an encore in 7-08 and as other have said it's very manageable once you get used to it. A couple suggestion that help me shhot mine is A) wear some thin shooting gloves and B) don't try to hold it down.
They are stupid accurate, handy, and will kill the heck out of some critters!

[RifleBowPistol]

The 120 gr. Ballistic Tips should be a good choice of bullet for that combo. With that bullet you should not have to look for the highest velocity, it should expand well at 2300, so if you get 2500 to 2600 fps, you will be doing great.

With handguns, the grips are a big often not spoken about, big part of the accuracy. Getting a grip that will allow you to locate your hand in the same place every shot, will noticeably help your accuracy. The gun is recoiling and rolling upwards, before the bullet leaves the barrel. If you are not holding the gun the same way every shot, the gun can take a different path as it recoils, resulting in the bullet hitting different spots, and not the same spot over and over. If you get on the various Contender and Encore groups, there are a couple of guys who make custom grips for those two guns and the Remington XP100s. Those will improve your groups noticeably, or at least once you get serious with it.

It takes a bit more focus on what you are doing. Learning that any amount of movement is going to show up down range, with your group size, or where the bullets hit. It's a different form of shooting, once you get to where you can shoot very well with a handgun, your rifle shooting should improve, likely even your archery shooting. I guess it really depends on how serious you get with trying to shoot your handgun or handguns accurately.

There are guys who have been shooting and killing game, deer, pronghorn, coyotes, ECT. at ranges of 300 to 400 yards for close to 40 years now, with specialty, single shot pistols. There are guys who shoot custom built guns out past 1000 yards. Those are usually XP100s, or XR100s or Savage Strikers.

Your choice of a Encore is a good choice, I have wanted to stick with my gen 1 Contenders, but they are very limited on what you can safely do with them. They are likely the most accurate T/C handguns, but you have to stick to low pressure rounds, or ammo. The Encore is definitely stronger, much more ridged gun. I don't like some guys choice of calibers, you can only burn so much powder in a 14" to 16" barrel, chambering a gun for a caliber, that uses 65 gr. of powder is really a waste of time. There is no way, it's going to come close to burning all of that powder, while the bullet is still in such a short barrel. The advantage of the Encore, is you can shoot calibers such as a 300 Savage or 6.5X47 Lapua or a 7mm BR, and don't have to limit your self to low pressure loads. You can load it up to the normal max pressure for that caliber. So you can get the most out of those calibers, in a handgun.

Me personally I try to look for faster burning powders, when I am loading a given caliber for a handgun. But if there is slower burning powder that gives you better performance, then I will go with it. I have used faster burning powders in some of my shorter barrel guns, to cut down on muzzle flash, wound up loosing a lot of velocity, but it turned out to be not such a bad thing, the lower velocity really changed the way the bullet performed, for some applications that much lower velocity worked better.

Handgun recoil can be hard on scopes, but I have had very little problem with handgun recoil killing scopes. With handguns being so much lighter, the recoil for a given caliber can be faster, sharper, than would typically be for the same caliber in a common rifle. I think most scope companies have that figured out, it's not much of an issue. I have had a lot more rifle scopes die on me, than I have had pistol scopes.

Then once you start getting better with the gun, you might take it to someone who knows that particular gun very well and have them adjust the trigger. A nice light, crisp trigger is always nice, more so with a handgun you plan to shoot at longer ranges/you want to get nice tight groups with. Since you most likely bought a used gun, S&W recently shut down the T/C plant, someone may have already had some work done on the trigger. It may have some nice adjustments on it already. If it's not very light and crisp, I would probably take it to someone who knows those guns and ask them what they think of the trigger. When you first get started, the stock trigger adjustments are fine, more so, if you don't shoot guns with very light triggers normally. With a handgun, the more effort you have to use, to get the trigger to move enough to set off the gun, the more likely you are going to shift the point of impact, by slightly moving the gun. You likely won't even notice it, but it will show up down range.

Be aware of how your first hand, I would assume you are right handed, is wrapped around the grip and how it contacts the trigger. Work on proper finger placement on the trigger. Then find a good position for your second hand, to wrap around the hand you have on the grip. Always use the exact same placement for both hands. Then work to eliminate all movement, before and during the shot. Then repetitive, repetitive, repetitive. The better you get at all of these things, the better your groups will be.

It is very possible to shoot well under an 1" at 100 yards. I used to shoot 3/8" every time I shot either of my Contenders. I suspect the gun, was capable of slightly better groups, but that was my limit, with a 4X scope on a Contender with the trigger adjustments I had done, and the grips I had on the gun. With my rifles, my accuracy varied at times, but during the years I shot Contender pistols, my rifle accuracy was much more consistent. My accuracy with my Contender was extremely consistent. I need to get back to that type of dedication to my shooting.

[muzzlebrake]

Coolest old single shot target pistol I've ever seen. Wish I could afford one.
Smith & Wesson that never caught on in it's day. Breech loading side breaking engineering marvel.

https://youtu.be/TW6x7MwiyKM

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/951177668

[Leverhunter]

You made a great choice. If I were starting in the single shot game today I would pick the same gun.

I've been hunting with a Contender in 7-30 Waters for 15 or 20 years that is crazy accurate for a factor gun. 3/4" at 100 yards all day. Recently bought a 223 barrel to practice with but haven't had time to really match it up well with ammo.

I wouldn't worry much about reduced loads, I sighted in a friends 308 Winchester with a 15" barrel and recoil isn't bad. A thin pair of gloves is good, use a good solid rest under the forearm. Grip it firmly but not a death grip, just let it come up, your not going to stop it. As with any gun a good scope is a great investment, 2-7 works great. Good scope, solid rest and get comfortable with it. And, if you decide to sell put me first in line !

[geezer56]

I loaded for an encore in that caliber. I used a 120 grain bullet and a 95 percent fill with Trail boss powder. It was a pig thumper.

[TacticalCowboy]

I had a 15” 7-08 encore for awhile. Recoil wasn’t bad at all. With a 140 BT and varget (I think) it would do right at 1” at 100 yards.

[txlawdog]

I have a stainless 45-70 with 14" barrel, called the hand cannon. Darn thing has 3 scope rings on it for the Leopold scope. Even with 300 grain ammo, about 6 shots is all I can take. Won it years ago in a drawing in Guns magazine. Lots of folks want to buy it if I take it to a gun show. Wished I had different barrel for it.